


Subject Zero Zero

by 1_800_FRERARD



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album), My Chemical Romance
Genre: Battery City, CLONES AF, Danger Days Era, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, M/M, Mad Scientists, out in The Zones
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-05-25 20:43:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6209404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1_800_FRERARD/pseuds/1_800_FRERARD
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Battery City 2115: As a last-ditch effort to find him, or whatever may be left of him, Gerard has attempted to clone his long-lost domestic partner, Frank, and the results are near-perfect. Subject Zero Zero has one mission: Find out what happened to Gerard's runaway rebel of a boyfriend before Better Living Industries takes everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Assimilation

**Author's Note:**

> WHAT SHOULD I -NOT- BE DOING RIGHT NOW? POSTING A HALF-WRITTEN DANGER DAYS FIC.  
> WHAT AM I DOING RIGHT NOW? EXACTLY THAT.

Frank opened his eyes and immediately squinted against the harsh brightness coming from the fluorescent lights above. He slowly lifted a hand out of the liquid to cover his face, or at least block out some of the light. It took a lot more effort than he felt like it should, but eventually he got it.

Wait. Liquid? 

His fingertips were all shriveled from remaining in the liquid for so long. Did he fall asleep in the bathtub again? He shivered as the cool air graced the skin covering his arms. The liquid he’d been laying in wasn’t exactly warm to begin with, and the temperature of the room wasn’t much warmer. 

He tried to sit up slowly. As he glanced around, he noticed he wasn’t sitting in a bathtub at all. He’d been laying in a glass tank. The fluid he’d been suspended in was a deep, thick green and waist deep. 

A man in a lab-coat sat hunched over a nearby computer screen, typing away. He was mumbling to himself as he worked. The only phrase Frank could really decipher was  _ “fucking shit.” _

The sudden sound of mechanical beeps all around him were an unwelcome intrusion on his over-sensitive ears. The man in the lab coat jolted upright, pressing a button to his right to silence the beeping. He spun around in his rolling chair and froze as his eyes met Frank’s. 

His name was escaping Frank’s memory. It almost  _ hurt _ to try and remember it. His hair was longer than Frank remembered. Much more untidy. The rest of him was just as disheveled, down to the way his black tie hung loosely from his neck. And he looked like he hadn’t been sleeping much lately. That was usually the case with him. Frank knew this, but everything was sort of fuzzy, like someone had taken out half of his brain. 

The man in the lab coat pulled a tape recorder from his pocket and pressed ‘record.’  

“Subject zero zero is awake.” he said flatly, blinking at Frank. 

He set the recorder down on the workbench beside the tank. It was still recording. 

“Hello.” He said, rolling his chair closer to Frank. 

“Um...” Frank faltered. He swallowed hard as he returned the man in the lab coat’s gaze. What had he been doing before this very moment? Where was he? How did he even get here?

Nothing about the large, white room around them was familiar to him. He felt naked and exposed. Which lead him to realize he  _ was _ naked.  _ Literally. _ He slid his hands over his lap in an attempt to cover himself, even though the green fluid was already covering most of what he wanted covered. As he glanced down at his hands to make sure of this, something seemed _ off. _

“Where the fuck are my tattoos?” he blurted out, surprising himself.  

He lifted his arms up and out in front of him, forgetting all about decency. His skin was pale and uninked. It looked completely  _ wrong. _

The tattoos were sort of hard to place. There had been something wrapping around his wrist there. A colorful piece on his forearm here. A promise on the back of his hand there. The shapes weren’t coming to mind right away, but he remembered their presence. He remembered staring at the designs as he slowly watched them painfully driven into his skin with a tattoo gun. That wasn’t the kind of thing a person could just forget about.  

“I should explain.” the man in the lab coat said carefully, “First, I need you to answer two questions…” 

Frank darted his head back up at the man and nodded. 

“One. Do you know who you are?” the man asked. 

“I’m… Frank? Frank Iero?” Frank said. He knew he sounded unsure of himself. ‘Do you know who you are?’ was sort of a vague question, though. He wasn’t sure if he’d answered right. 

“Good.” the man replied, “Two. Do you know who I am?” 

“You look familiar… What’s going on? Did I hit my head or something?” Frank asked, lifting a slimey, uninked hand up to feel around for bumps or bandages. His head felt normal. His hair was soft and short just like always, so why was everything else so fucking  _ not normal  _ right now _? _

“No.” the man said hesitantly, “You didn’t hit your head. I’m trying to think of the best way to put this. Basically… You’re not Frank Iero. You are a _ copy _ . A clone, if you will. The very first that I have created. To my knowledge, you are the only one.” 

He paused, trying to gauge Frank’s reaction. Frank didn’t have one, of course. He was still waiting for there to be a punchline. Nothing was making sense. Nothing was familiar at all aside from the man’s face in front of him. 

“Tell me your name.” Frank insisted, leaning against the edge of the tank to inch closer to the man in the lab coat. 

“Gerard.” he replied obediently. 

“How do we know each other?” Frank asked. 

“We’ve known each other a very long time...” Gerard answered solemnly. 

“But  _ how? _ ” Frank demanded. 

“I met the person you are an exact copy of in a detention facility in East Battery City. About... ten years ago?” Gerard offered, eyeing Frank, “I didn’t want to wear my male-assigned uniforms, so they threw me in there to scare me. Frank was the first person to be nice to me in there. I think at the time he’d been caught using the city’s carrier drones to deliver um… _contraband._ But maybe it was the time he’d rigged his hoverboard to ride well above the ground-traffic height requirements? It’s hard to remember. He was in there a lot.” 

Frank thought about it. That seemed right, sort of. He remembered detention facilities. And he’d known Gerard forever, that was for sure. 

“But that was  _ Frank _ . That wasn’t you.” Gerard explained, “Does that make sense? You are made up of copies of the same cells that made up that person. Up until last week, you did not exist.” 

“If this is a joke, it isn’t funny.” Frank -or, could he even call himself that?- said. He was starting to believe Gerard, if only because he looked so serious and so sad. 

“This isn’t a joke.” Gerard said. He reached over to press ‘stop’ on the tape recorder. Frank watched his movements carefully. 

“Can I get out of this thing?” Not-Frank asked, glancing down at the green fluid again. He bent his legs, slowly rising his knees out of the goo. No tattoos on his legs either.  _ Freaky. _ He shivered as more of his skin was exposed to the open air. 

“You…  _ can _ .” Gerard offered hesitantly, “The intro on the coding prototype I used said you should have full cognitive command, but I’m not so sure about that. Here... let me help you.” 

Gerard held out a his arm for Not-Frank to support himself on. Only, Not-Frank wasn’t sure how he was supposed to get out. The tank was raised a few feet off the floor, and there wasn’t exactly a way for him to get down gracefully. No stairs, no step-stools. He reached for the rims of the tank and used them to pull himself upward. As soon as he was on his feet, he was shivering. 

“Can I have a towel or something?” Not-Frank asked. 

Gerard quickly slid out of his lab coat and passed it to the shivering clone. The clone eyed the garment with distrust for a moment before accepting it and pulling it on. 

“This all I have. I guess I didn’t think about what I’d do once you were… alive?” Gerard offered sheepishly. 

The coat was too big for Not-Frank, but it was better than nothing. The sleeves went well past his hands. He hastily fumbled with the buttons on the front, trying to ignore the way the fabric clung to his slimy skin and bunched around his wrists.. He could see the green soaking through the crisp white. And he could feel Gerard’s eyes on him as his pruney fingers slipped on the buttons. 

“Would you like some help?” Gerard asked. 

“I think I got it.” Not-Frank insisted, trying to face away from Gerard without slipping on the glass panel under his feet. 

“I guess I always thought cloning would involve more wires and breathing tubes and stuff like that.” Not-Frank offered conversationally, “At least an IV or something?” 

“I took all of those out before I started on your brain.” Gerard explained, “They’re not really needed in the final stages. I also thought they might freak you out. They were freaking me out a little, anyways…”  

“Is there like, a chair in here or something?” Not-Frank asked, glancing around at the computers and microscopes on workbenches organized around the room. Most of the work-stools were too high up to be of any help. 

Gerard rolled the chair he’d been sitting in closer to the tank and held out his arm again for Not-Frank to take. This time he went with it, clutching Gerard’s arm and taking a cautious step up over the edge of the tank and onto the cushion.    
He should’ve known the chair would roll out from under him, twisting his ankle painfully and causing him to crash-land into Gerard’s arms. The chair ricocheted off the table the tank was resting on and bumped loudly into the closest work bench. Gerard held his balance, wrapping his arms tightly around Not-Frank to steady him.

Their faces were inches apart. Not-Frank stared at Gerard curiously. This felt much more familiar than anything else had, which posed more questions than answers. 

They were frozen for a moment, staring into each other’s eyes. Not-Frank opened his mouth to ask why it felt so good to be in Gerard’s space, but then Gerard took a step back. He clutched Not-Frank’s shoulders at a comfortable arm’s length, obviously putting intentional distance between them. 

“Sorry. I should’ve set up the tank differently...” Gerard said sheepishly, pink creeping over his cheeks, “Here. Let me show you around.” 

Gerard beckoned for Not-Frank to follow him. He slid the tape recorder off the workbench and back into his pocket and turned his head, eyeing Not-Frank up and down to make sure he was walking alright as he took a few cautious steps forward. 

The pristine white tiles under Not-Frank’s feet were icy cold. The rows of empty, dark computer screens served to discomfort him. They looked familiar, but he remembered them all lit up with complicated coding. He’d been here before, obviously. Or, he hadn’t, maybe, but _Frank_ certainly had. 

“How are you feeling?” Gerard asked, “Are you hungry? Thirsty? Tired? The manual didn’t have too much information on what you might need, but then again, the prototype was intended for livestock, not… not...” 

“Livestock?” Not-Frank asked, running his wrinkled fingertips over a keyboard as they passed the last row of computers. He was too overwhelmed by the surrounding lab equipment to know how he was feeling. He supposed his mouth was a little dry. He watched as Gerard held his hand up to a touchpad in the wall, causing the lab’s main door to slide open. They stepped out into a hallway. 

“There aren’t cloning kits available to citizens just yet.” Gerard explained, “I’ve been commissioned by BL/ind to develop one, but even if I’m able to increase the cell growth enough to develop a clone overnight, it’ll probably never see the light of day... They want it for themselves for some reason. I didn’t ask. I’m not even supposed to talk about it, really. But I figure it’s safe to explain the experiment to… _ the experiment. _ ”

“What made you decide to test it out on  _ Frank? _ ” Not-Frank wondered aloud.  

“Frank helped me develop the livestock cloning kit the agricultural department still uses to this very day.” Gerard supplied easily, low-key dodging the question, “Do you remember anything about that?” 

“Nope.” Not-Frank answered, “Am I... supposed to be good at science? Because I don’t know if I could even think my way out of a  _ box _ right now. I can’t remember-” 

“Science was always sort of  _ my _ thing.” Gerard offered slowly, as they made their way down the hall, “Frank was one of the only citizens in all of Batt City with an artist permit. He did graphic design for them, if you could call it that. But he always helped me with my experiments. He was always with me in the lab, helping me invent things. He was very good at technical things, computers, stuff like that. I think we’d be running this place if…” 

“Was.” Not-Frank repeated. Noticing that Gerard had been using past-tense verbs the whole time.

“I’m telling you all of this because you’re going to be experiencing what we, in the industry, refer to as ‘selective memory.’” Gerard went on, ignoring Not-Frank, “I in the script we wrote, there were too many variables in the brain development sequence coding. Not everything would’ve transferred over one hundred percent. So what I’m getting at is that… statistically speaking, you could have a completely different set of interests and abilities than Frank. It’s impossible to know what will and won’t stick. There’s a good chance you’ll never get all your memories back, but bits and pieces should be coming back to you all the time. But! It’s perfectly alright if they don’t, because the memories aren’t…  _ yours _ anyways. They’re Frank’s.” 

“But I’m Frank, aren’t I?” Not-Frank asked, “You would’ve needed a DNA sample to initiate the cell-growth sequencer.” 

Gerard and Not-Frank stared at one another, wide-eyed. Not-Frank wasn’t sure how the fuck he even knew that. This was getting  _ weirder.  _

“Why do I know that?” Not-Frank asked bluntly, furrowing his brow. 

“Because Frank knew that.” Gerard offered simply. 

Gerard paused to place his hand on another touch-pad along the wall. Another metal door slid open, into a more informal space. There were couches, a kitchenette against the far wall, a TV... 

“Home sweet home.” Gerard said, following behind Not-Frank. The door slid shut behind them without any further command.

“Where are we, anyways?” Not-Frank asked, “Are we in Batt City now?” 

“Where else would we be?” Gerard scoffed, “It’s not much, but it’s home. Well,  _ my _ home. But it’s yours, too. For now.” 

“Okay...” Not-Frank said. The tiles were less cold than the tiles in the hallway, but that didn’t keep him from stepping onto the first pristine-white area rug he saw. He hoped the green slime wouldn’t stain. He glanced behind him, noting that there wasn’t a trail of gooey green following them into the living space. 

He stayed by the entrance of the room, taking in his surroundings. The place looked mostly un-lived in. There was no evidence anyone had spent any time in front of the TV, though the TV was on, playing the mid-day reminders: 

... _ Talking is prohibited in sections G, I, and Q of the inner city limits until further notice. And remember, have a  _ **_safe_ ** _ day.   _

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Gerard asked, eyeing Not-Frank.  

“I don’t know?” Not-Frank answered thoughtfully, “I think I’d like to… get this stuff off of me.” The substance had started to congeal where it had formed thick droplets on his legs. Not-Frank pealed a congealed portion off of his neck and held it close to his face for inspection. 

“Would it be alright if I showered off?” Not-Frank asked, nonchalantly sliding the mass of green into the pocket of the lab coat.

“Of course. I’ll go get you a change of clothes...” Gerard nodded. 

 

It was strange that the act of turning on the shower was so familiar. He’d never done this before, technically. 

_ Technically  _ he’d just been… Born? Created? Grown? Assimilated? He didn’t know. 

The timer started, letting him know he had thirty seconds before the water would start. He pulled Gerard’s lab coat up over his shoulders, not even bothering with the buttons. It lay crumpled and stained on the washroom floor. The heating lamps came on, adding a soft, warm glow to the room. Frank took a deep breath of the clean, filtered air and breathed out again.

He stepped under the spray and began rubbing the coagulated green slime off of himself. It came off pretty easily with warm water. He ran his hands through his hair to get it out of his hair. 

Once he’d gotten the worst of it off. He glanced down at himself, still a little confused when he didn’t see any tattoos. He’d been covered. Absolutely _ covered _ in them. 

He’d never regretted a tattoo, but he sometimes regretted their placement. It was strange that he’d been given the chance to start over. Or, it wasn’t starting over, was it? He was a whole new person. A blank canvas. He wasn’t Frank, even though he totally was.

Trying to work through whether he was or wasn’t was officially starting to give him a fucking headache.

He closed his eyes and let the warm spray pound onto his face. For about two seconds. And then the water shut off. Not-Frank pushed the button to make the water start up again. He was startled by a robotic voice:

“Denied.” it said. 

He pushed it again. 

“Denied.” 

Fucking water rations. 

Wait. 

_ Water rations. _ He remembered those. He’d stopped taking showers with Gerard when BL/ind had put the water rations into effect. There wasn’t time to be slow and sweet in the washrooms anymore. Showers had become strictly business, since they both had to be clean and presentable for their respective jobs. 

They’d found other places to be slow and sweet together. They  _ always _ did. 

Not-Frank waited for some of the water to drain off of him before stepping out of the stall. The heat lamps were still on, keeping the room nice and warm. He opened a panel in the wall and pulled out a fresh towel. The details all fell into place as he dried himself off.  

There was a reason Gerard had asked if Not-Frank remembered him. The  _ real  _ Frank had been very important to Gerard. And Gerard had been very important to the real Frank. They’d been  _ together.  _ This was the BLi-sanctioned living space that they shared. Their  _ home. _

Something had to have happened to Frank. People didn’t clone the people they loved for no reason. 

Frank slid into the clothes Gerard had handed him. A pair of black pants and a fresh white shirt. Perfectly neutral and colorless. They fit just like they belonged to him. They had probably belonged to Frank. Not-Frank swallowed hard. 

The contrast between the shirt and his pale skin looked less stark without the tattoos. He didn’t like any of this at all. 

He pressed his hand against the door’s touchpad to let himself out of the bathroom. The heat lamps shut off as soon as the door slid open. He left the lab coat and his damp towel on the floor in the bathroom and listened carefully. 

The living space wasn’t very big. Not-Frank followed the sounds of Gerard’s movements to the small kitchen area in the front room. He was holding a white mug in his hands, breathing in the steam skimming off the top of the liquid. 

Not-Frank had noticed Gerard wasn’t sleeping much right away. For one, he needed to stop drinking that Bli-brand instant coffee so fucking late in the day. It always kept him up. 

Not-Frank’s first inclination was to reach for Gerard, pull him into his arms,  _ comfort him _ , but Not-Frank kept his arms at his sides. Gerard hadn’t disclosed the nature of his relationship to the real Frank. There had to be a reason for that, too. Not-Frank just wasn’t sure what it was yet. 

As if it wasn’t already confusing enough to not know if he was or wasn’t Frank Iero, he was torn on how to  _ react _ . 

“Back so soon.” Gerard said, “I hope you found everything to be… adequate?” 

“The growth serum comes right off with a little warm water.” Not-Frank offered conversationally. 

“That’s good to hear.” Gerard said, eyeing the clone, “Your cognition should be improving steadily, but…  _ Here. _ ” 

He reached out and handed Not-Frank a can of soda. 

“Getting your blood sugar up should help with the foggyheadedness...” Gerard offered. 

Not-Frank inspected the can for a moment before cracking it open and taking a sip. The gentle carbonation and unidentifiable sweetness was strangely familiar. He closed his eyes as he considered the taste. 

“Is there anything you feel should be noted in particular, subject Zero Zero?” Gerard asked, “About you? About your cognition? Anything strange or unusual?”  

“I’d forgotten about the water rations...” Not-Frank mused, opening his eyes to return Gerard’s curious stare. He was about to try and describe the sensation of knowing where everything was, as though he’d been in that bathroom a million times before even though he hadn’t, when he noticed the walls. They were white. They hadn’t been... before? Not-Frank didn’t remember them being this way. They weren’t white in his cloned memories. 

“Where did the color go?” Not-Frank asked. 

“Huh?” Gerard said, turning to try and follow Not-Frank’s gaze. 

“On the walls...” Not-Frank explained. 

“Oh.” Gerard said softly, “Yes. I had to change them back to Bli standards.” 

Gerard’s head snapped back in Not-Frank’s direction. 

“Wait. You remember that?” Gerard asked. 

Not-Frank nodded. 

“What else do you remember?” Gerard asked, excitement clear in his eyes. 

“I never liked that they made us keep the living room white. It stains too easily...” Not-Frank offered, still not sure which things were best to mention. If Gerard wanted to talk about where the real Frank was, he would’ve brought it up himself.

“Agreed.” Gerard said, clearing his throat. His face returned to its neutral frown. 

Not-Frank took another sip of his drink and crossed the room so that he could drop onto the white couch. He glanced at the TV again. A program about housekeeping droids was playing. He glanced back up at Gerard almost immediately, already bored. 

Aside from the time Not-Frank had spent in the shower, Gerard hadn’t taken his eyes off of Not-Frank since he’d woken up in the lab. Not-Frank sort of understood why. Successfully cloning a human being was probably very exciting to Gerard, even if Not-Frank couldn’t fully wrap his head around it. Still, there was something uncomfortable about _ being  _ the thing Gerard couldn’t take his eyes off of. There was a sadness to his gaze. An uneasiness. Not-Frank knew it had to do with whatever had happened to the real Frank. 

“My brother’s on his way now.” Gerard said, setting down his mug, “He’s a doctor. I’m going to have him look you over and administer some basic immunizations… You can’t really leave here without them. You have the immuno-defense of an infant right now…” 

“Are you calling me a _ baby _ ?” Not-Frank smirked. 

“No.” Gerard said, allowing himself a sad smile, “...But I’m glad your sense of humor wasn’t lost in the translation process. I think that’s one of the things I miss the most...” 

Not-Frank bit his lip, unsure how to respond. The look on Gerard’s face was just so fucking  _ heavy.  _

“We should wait for Mikey in the lab.” Gerard said, breaking the silence between them. 

“The lab?” Not-Frank asked, “Why can’t we just do it in here?” 

“I’d prefer if the examination was more…  _ formal.”  _ Gerard explained, “Frank had an issue with authority. He had a hard time taking...  _ anything  _ seriously. Wouldn’t surprise me if you’re not any different.” 

“So?” Not-Frank asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Oh dear…” Gerard sighed, “Come on, let’s go.” 

  
  


As soon as they were back in the lab, Not-Frank eyed the tank he’d woken up in. The green liquid was still sitting there, slimey and disgusting as ever. At least he didn’t have to get back in. 

At the far end of the room lay what Not-Frank could only describe as an  _ operating table. _ Gerard insisted a thousand times that no one was going to cut him open and that everything would be fine. It was just for emergencies. A thousand things could go wrong in the cloning process. Medical equipment had to be readily available in case something awful should happen. 

Not-Frank sat on the edge of the table, swinging his legs back and forth, glaring at Gerard.

“I told you you’d have an issue with this.” Gerard said, taking in Not-Frank’s harsh stare. He perched himself on the edge of a stool nearest the operating table. 

Not-Frank stuck out his tongue.

“All this stuff was my idea, you know?” Gerard offered gently, “My superiors said there’d be no reason to attempt to revive a defective clone, since they’re not real people.” 

“You don’t think I’m a real person?” Not-Frank asked. The thought stung. A lot.  

“ _ Of course you’re a real person. _ ” Gerard defended, “But in the eyes of the government, you have no basic human rights. You’ve got about as many rights as... a house cat?” 

Not-Frank just frowned at the comparison. First babies and now animals? In Batt City, he was about as safe as a baby animal.  _ Gerard sure knew how to put a positive fucking spin on things.  _

“In other words, they can take you away from me if they find I’m mistreating you.” Gerard explained, “But that’s about it.” 

“As long as I don’t have to contribute to society, I’m cool with that.” Not-Frank sighed. 

Gerard smiled one of his sad, heart-wrenching smiles. Not-Frank must’ve said or done something Frank-like. 

“Have you had any defective clones before?” Not-Frank asked curiously, trying to change the subject. 

“Not yet.” Gerard said, shaking his head, “My calculations are never wrong. It’ll probably never come up. It’s just better to be safe than sorry, you know?” 

“But I’m just the first...” Not-Frank mused, “Zero Zero. How many of me are you going to make?” 

“I just needed one. One of you is  _ more than enough... _ ” Gerard said, eyes shifting down to the floor. 

The lab’s main door slid open. A tall, thin man in a lab coat with blonde hair and a brief case wandered in. 

“Over here.” Gerard called. 

The guy turned his head and smiled as soon as he spotted them. 

“Holy shit.” he said, eyeing the clone, “You really fucking did it.” 

“I told you.” Gerard defended. 

“Hearing it is so much different than…  _ seeing it.  _ Holy Fuck, Gerard.” The man gasped, “ _ Hello.” _

Not-Frank frowned at the guy’s cheery attitude. It was easy to smile when you weren’t sitting on a  _ fucking operating table.  _

“This is subject Zero Zero.” Gerard said,  “Subject Zero Zero, this is my brother, Mikey.” 

“It’s so nice to meet you.” Mikey said, reaching out his hand to shake Not-Frank’s. 

Not-Frank took Mikey’s hand and shook it weakly. 

“Holy shit.” Mikey went on, glancing over at Gerard, “How’s the cognition? Can he walk? Talk? Think?  _ Feel? _ ” 

“All of that.” Not-Frank answered for himself. 

“You look  _ just like him _ , too...” Mikey mused, turning back to Frank. 

“Aren’t I supposed to?” Not-Frank asked bitterly. 

“Well,  _ yeah _ , but still. This is…” Mikey paused, setting his briefcase on the table beside Frank, “This is  _ big _ , Gee.” 

Mikey got out a flashlight and shined it right into Not-Frank’s eye. 

“Ow.” Not-Frank huffed, holding as still as he could. 

“Sorry.” Mikey said sheepishly, clicking the light off again, “I just want to check a few things. Say ‘ah’ for me.” 

Mikey mumbled good after each step of his examination. Hearing? “Good.” Sight? “Good.” Reflexes? “Good.” 

“Lie Down for a moment.” Mikey requested. 

“Why?” Not-Frank asked suspiciously.

“I’ll give you a lollipop if you’re good.” Mikey offered sarcastically. 

Not-Frank started to lower himself onto the operating table. 

“I just need to make sure everything’s where it’s supposed to be.” Mikey explained, sliding Not-Frank’s shirt up and running a hand over his ribs. His pressed against them gently then pressed lower, against the soft of his belly. It tickled a little, but Frank tried his best to lay still. Not for Mikey’s sake, but because he could still feel Gerard’s eyes on him. 

“Good.” Mikey decided after a moment. 

He brought out a stethoscope and placed it over Not-Frank’s heart. It was cold against his skin. He held his breath for a moment as he adjusted. Mikey listened to his heartbeat intently. Not-Frank was nervous suddenly. What if something  _ was _ wrong with him? What the fuck would they do? 

“Your heart rate seems a little quick… are you feeling alright?” Mikey asked. 

“Yeah.” Not-Frank replied, “Just… you know.” 

“I don’t.” Mikey said neutrally, pulling the stethoscope away and lowering Frank’s shirt. As Frank studied his face, he saw similarities to Gerard’s face. Definitely brothers. 

“So what’s up, doc? Am I gonna make it?” Frank asked lightly. He felt a little more relaxed now that he’d seen there weren’t any scalpels in Mikey’s kit. 

“I think so. We still need to immunize you, though.” Mikey said, “So I’ll let you take your pick… upper arm or ass cheek?” 

“Seriously?” Not-Frank asked, letting out a small laugh. 

“Ass cheek would hurt less.” Mikey offered. 

“You weren’t joking.” Not-Frank commented, glancing over at Gerard, “...He’s not joking.” 

“He’s not joking.” Gerard repeated quietly, blinking helplessly at Not-Frank.  

“Ass cheek it is, then.” Not-Frank grinned, “If only because I’ll get the chance to moon you while we do this.” 

“The similarities in personality are uncanny.” Mikey commented. 

When Not-Frank looked back over at Mikey, he realized Mikey was talking to Gerard, not him. 

“I can  _ hear you. _ Don’t talk about me like I’m not right here.” Not-Frank demanded. 

“Sorry.” Mikey said, digging in his briefcase. 

“No you’re not.” Not-Frank argued. 

“Roll over, please.” Mikey commanded. 

Not-Frank obliged, only because he still felt Gerard’s eyes on him. He grumbled as he slid the hem of his pants down a few inches. 

“Good.” Mikey said. 

Not-Frank closed his eyes as he listened to Mikey prepare the needle. He took it out of it’s plastic packaging and stuck it into the small hermetically sealed glass filled with… germs? Viruses? Sedatives? Who knew? Not-Frank was putting a lot of trust in these people. 

“Now, this is going to hurt a little. You can hold Gerard’s hand if you want...” Mikey said. 

Not-Frank almost opened his mouth to protest and point out that he was not, in fact, a helpless baby animal who couldn’t handle a fucking needle, but he decided he’d rather not miss the chance to hold Gerard’s hand. He was still incredibly curious about touching Gerard. If he was a clone of someone who loved Gerard, would he be able to feel that, too? 

Not-Frank let his arm dangle off the edge of the operating table. Gerard reached for it immediately. He felt his heart skip a beat as their hands touched. He bit his lip to keep from smiling and giving himself away. 

Not-Frank tried to focus on how it made him feel, if it made him feel anything at all. Gerard’s palm was so warm and comforting. He thought, idly, that Gerard was the first person he’d ever touched. Up until Mikey had examined him, Gerard was the _ only  _ person he’d ever touched. 

It didn’t really mean anything. He’d only been alive for one day. But it felt like _ something.  _

“When I say ‘go’ I want you to hold your breath and count with me to four, alright?” Mikey instructed, rubbing an alcohol swab over the injection site. 

“Fucking do it already.” Not-Frank protested, feeling the chill of the alcohol in the swab drying on his bare skin. 

“Alright, then.” Mikey said, “ _ Go.” _

Not-Frank felt the needle pierce into his flesh. Mikey hadn’t been kidding. It fucking stung. His hand twitched involuntarily in Gerard’s. Gerard ran his thumb over the back of Not-Frank’s hand comfortingly. 

“One… Two…” Mikey said calmly, “Three… Four…” 

Not-Frank released his breath after Mikey had pulled the needle back out and pressed a bandage over the small intrusion. Not-Frank opened his eyes and looked at Gerard.

“Well, shit. Next time I let someone stick something in my ass, I’ll make sure there’s something in it for me.” Not-Frank smirked, delighting entirely in the uncomfortable blush that bloomed on Gerard’s cheeks. 

“Glad that’s over...” Mikey sighed, ignoring Not-Frank, “So I’ll save you the gory details. I basically just dosed you with everything you’d find on the germiest credit-machine in Inner City… You might feel like shit for a day or two. Frank always had a miserable immune system.” 

Not-Frank let go of Gerard’s hand and rolled over, inching his hips off the table to slide his pants back up. 

“You guys figured out how to clone an entire fucking human being but couldn’t take the time to throw in a nicer immune system?” Frank huffed.

“Easy enough for you to say.” Mikey scoffed, “Your co-creator was incredibly sloppy. It took me forever to straighten out Frank’s coding. It’s a miracle you’re even here in one piece right now, Zero Zero.” 

Not-Frank sat up slowly but his vision swam anyways. He blinked for a moment waiting for the colorful specks to fade. It hurt a little to put weight on the skin where the needle had gone in. He leaned to one side to keep his weight off of it. 

“No, it’s a miracle I haven’t punched you yet.” Not-Frank said, smirking at Mikey.

“Threatening me after I’m done sticking a needle in your ass was probably good forethought.” Mikey shot back. 

“Do I have to like him?” Not-Frank asked, turning to Gerard, “Did Frank like him?” 

“They got along pretty well actually…” Gerard mused, “But like I explained before, there’s bound to be some variation in personality in interests. It’s fine with me if you don’t like him.” 

“I don’t like you.” Not-Frank informed Mikey.

“It’s astounding to me that Frank was an asshole on a  _ cellular level. _ ” Mikey commented, eyeing the clone defeatedly.

 

Mikey left shortly after that. The clinic where he worked to had called him in to deal with a high volume of unruly incoming patients. They all walked back to Gerard’s living space together, but parted ways at the door. 

“Call me if anything…  _ weird _ happens.” Mikey said, “I’ll come as soon as I can.” 

“Of course.” Gerard nodded.

Mikey said his goodbyes to Gerard, giving Not-Frank one firm nod, before wandering off, further down the hallway. 

Not-Frank wanted to follow him. He was curious to go out into the city, even though he knew he couldn’t until the immunizations had settled in his system. He knew things would feel more familiar once he was free to explore the city to it’s boundaries. 

Stepping into the living space the second time was less comfortable than it had been the first time. First, Not-Frank was suddenly feeling restless. And second, now that he’d touched Gerard, felt the spark, his curiosity was piqued. 

“Come with me. There’s something I want to show you.” Gerard said as soon as the main door slid shut behind them. He beckoned for Not-Frank to follow him. There was another door beside the small kitchen space. Gerard held his hand up to the touchpad on the wall to open the door and took a step back so that Not-Frank could walk in first. 

The room was larger than the main living space. A computing unit and stacks of messy calculation paper were crowded onto a desk. The desk itself was maybe the only white thing in the room. The parts of the walls that were visible had been colored a deep, angry red. The red was mostly covered by floor-to-ceiling shelves, pieced together out of scrapped metal. They were lined with books. Not just the Bli-sanctioned learning literatures but… actual pre-apocalyptic  _ books.  _

Not-Frank remembered them. He was the one who had collected them. Trading and bartering and going out into the zones to explore on his own... He reached out and ran his fingertips delicately over their spines. 

This was his old bedroom.  _ Their  _ bedroom. Not-Frank turned to glance at Gerard, who was busy making sure the door slid back into place behind them. 

Not-Frank turned again to take in the rest of the room. He pulled a random book off of the nearest shelf.  _ The Boy Scout Handbook _ . Gingerly, he cracked it open, flipping to a random page. There were small illustrations, depicting how to start fires. He closed the book and put it back on the shelf carefully. 

Their bed was still in the far corner. Not-Frank remembered tinkering with the mechanics of the lighting system to get the one over their bed to shine Bli-alarm- **red** instead of white like the rest of them. 

“See?” Gerard spoke from somewhere behind him, “I kept some of the colors…” 

Not-Frank couldn’t keep this up any longer. The dragging sadness, the weight of Gerard’s eyes on him. It was all too weird. 

“What happened to me?” Not-Frank demanded quietly, scratching at the back of his neck. 

“What do you mean?” Gerard asked. 

“What happened to  _ Frank? _ ” Not-Frank clarified, spinning around to glare at Gerard because Gerard totally knew  _ exactly _ what he was asking. 

Gerard ran a hand through his hair and dropped his gaze to the floor, sighing heavily as he chose his words. 

“Where is he?” Not-Frank asked. The look on Gerard’s face when he brought his gaze back up to meet Not-Frank’s eyes sent a chill down his spine. 

“He’s dead.” Gerard said, fighting to keep his voice even, “Legally. Technically.” 

“What do you mean  _ ‘technically?’” _ Not-Frank asked. 

“He went out into the zones and just… never came back.” Gerard said quietly, “His body was never recovered, nor was his vehicle. He left no signal when he burned out.  _ Nothing. _ ” 

“That doesn’t mean he’s dead.” Not-Frank pointed out, trying to aim at reassuring, “People disappear out there all the time. The dracs. The _ rebellion… _ Maybe he just-” 

“The administration declares a citizen to be dead if they’ve gone unregistered in Batt City for over five years.” Gerard interrupted pointedly. 

“Oh.” Not-Frank mumbled. 

Five years  _ was an awful long time  _ to be out in the zones without any sort of attempt at contact.

“Yeah...” Gerard said, looking pale in the face, “‘ _ Oh. _ ’ is right.” 

“So I’m here because…” Not-Frank trailed off. 

Gerard took another deep breath as he considered how to answer. 

“There are several reasons I felt this was necessary...” Gerard offered, “First of all-”

Not-Frank was pretty sure he knew some of the reasons already. He closed the distance between them, framing Gerard’s face with his palms. Getting all up in Gerard’s space felt natural. He felt Gerard freeze up, hesitating as Not-Frank moved into his space. Their faces were inches apart. Not-Frank searched Gerard’s eyes for any sign this was how things were supposed to go. He leaned forward a few more centimeters when he didn’t get any protests.

“Please don’t kiss me...” Gerard whispered. 

“Why not?” Not-Frank asked softly, pulling back a few inches, “Isn’t that why I’m here?” 

“No. That’s not why you’re here at all.” Gerard sighed, lip quivering, fighting the tears threatening to well up in his eyes, “Look, Subject Zero Ze-” 

“Don’t call me that anymore.” Not-Frank insisted. 

“What am I supposed to call you?” Gerard asked, eyes flitting down to Not-Frank’s lips, “I can’t call you ‘ _ Frank.’ _ You’re not…” 

“Call me ‘Zero,’ then. Or literally anything else? I don’t care. Just something that sounds more like a name than a reference to something you grew in a test tube.” Not-Frank insisted, “... How about ‘Zee’ for short?” he added. 

“Zee...” Gerard repeated thoughtfully, “Alright,  _ Zee… _ Well I actually had legitimate reasons for creating you, but I wanted to wait until we were sure about your cognitive functionality to discuss this...” 

“Don’t say you ‘created me.’” Zee grumbled, releasing his grip on Gerard and taking a step back, “That makes you like, my  _ dad. _ ” 

“Oh. _ Yeah _ . Hmmmm. That won’t work.” Gerard agreed, wiping at his eyes, “But that’s beside the point anyways. I brought you here because I need your help.” 

He couldn’t help but notice Gerard had made no motion to move away from him when they’d been touching. It was off limits, but only sort of off limits. _ Technically  _ off limits in the same way Frank was  _ technically _ dead. 

Gerard still looked so sad. Something inside Zee told him to get back in Gerard’s space and hold him until he wasn’t frowning like that anymore. Frank had been so in love with Gerard. There was no doubt about it now. Zee could feel it in his chest. The ache of it was  _ agonizing.  _

He tried again, grabbing Gerard’s arm to pull him close. 

“I told you,” Gerard insisted, “I don’t want-” 

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna fucking kiss you.” Zee sighed, wrapping his arms around Gerard and hugging him tightly. Gerard let his arms hang loosely at his sides but rested his head against Zee’s shoulder obediently. 

“Have you ever just let anyone hug you and tell you they’re fucking sorry for your loss?” Zee asked softly, petting Gerard’s hair gently. 

“No.  _ Never. _ Because that would mean he’s really gone...” Gerard said helplessly, leaning into Zee. 

“You were the one who showed me _ Rocky Horror Picture Show. _ ” Zee pointed out gently, “You can’t be mad I just assumed you were _ making a man, with blonde hair and tan… _ ” 

“That’s not funny.” Gerard said, voice wavering, laughing anyways. Zee could hear the hurt in Gerard’s voice. He was about to fucking  _ shatter.  _

“You’re way prettier than Dr. Frank N Furter…” Zee said, trying to pull him out of it, “And I know big muscles aren’t your type, anyways.” 

“Shut up, Zero.” Gerard insisted, bringing an arm up to hug Zee back. They pulled apart, and it felt as though all of the previous tension between them had officially broken. 

“We could always go look for him?” Zee suggested lightly, “You could use that BLi leverage you were always bragging about to get us out to the zones…” 

“You say that like I haven’t tried it already...” Gerard offered helplessly. 

“So what are we gonna do?” Zee asked, spinning around to look at the room again, “You said you needed my help?” 

He crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed, looking at his arms under the red lighting. It was still so weird to look down and not see…  _ anything _ . The memories of the designs were getting clearer. A star at the crease of his elbow. Letters on his knuckles... 

“Last week I got two pings from upper management...” Gerard said darkly, “The first was a reminder that Frank and I need to renew our domestic partnership if we want to keep this place. The second contained a file attachment with the guidelines for declaring a Batt citizen as legally dead, as well as all the paperwork I’d need… They’d filled it out for me. Just needed my signature.” 

“That’s fucked up.” Zee commented, “Like,  _ really _ fucked up. They have to know how fucked up that is.” 

“They’re  _ fucking dictators, _ Zero,” Gerard scoffed, “Of course they’re fucked up.” 

“So what are we gonna do about it?” Zee repeated.

“I have something else to show you.” Gerard said meaningfully. He walked toward a break in the book cases to another door. 

“Do you remember this?” Gerard asked, “Please tell me you remember this.” 

“Remember what?” Zee asked, staring at the door, “The closet?” 

“ _ Fuck. _ ” Gerard breathed, “Just… come here.” 

Zee lifted himself off the bed and walked over to the door. Gerard grabbed his hand and pressed it firmly against the access screen. 

The door lifted open and the lights flickered on, illuminating a small room, filled mostly with computers. A series of guitars were strewn around the room, resting on their stands collecting dust. As they walked in, Zee could hear the sound of electronics booting to life. 

“This was Frank’s private room. I don’t know if you recognize it at all. He soundproofed it so that he could play guitar in here without anyone ever hearing...” Gerard explained. 

Zee ran his fingertips over the fretboard of a pretty, white electric guitar sitting on a stand by the door. He felt something in him ignite at the prospect of playing it. He hadn’t been in this room before but he knew the guitar under his touch. 

“I haven’t been able to get in here since he disappeared. The door only opens with his handprint.” Gerard added, “ _ Your _ handprint.” 

“You cloned me for my fucking handprint?” Zee asked, feigning offense. 

“Partially.” Gerard nodded, “But that’s just the tip of the fucking ice berg. Zee… do you remember anything about the safe house?”

“Safe house?” Zee repeated, “No.”   

Zee crossed the room and sat on the work stool in front of the main computer system. He could feel Gerard’s eyes on him again. He dropped his hand onto the access screen to bring the computer to life. The screen flickered on, flashing the operating system welcome message. The OS immediately started loading up. 

“That’s a good sign, right?” Zee pointed out, turning to smile at Gerard. 

“Probably.” Gerard agreed neutrally. “So listen, Frank was building something out in the zones. It was underground. A place we could go if we ever wanted to escape our lives in the city. I haven’t been able to find it on my own. The directions to it are on this computer somewhere. Locked up tight, so no one else can find them.” 

“Not even you?” Zee asked.

“Well… he meant to come back.” Gerard defended immediately, “He wanted to show it to me. He offered so many times... But I always chickened out.”

“Sounds about right.” Zee smirked. 

“You don’t remember anything about the place?” Gerard asked. 

Zee turned to fully face Gerard. He thought about it for a moment, like thinking about it could give Gerard what he needed. Zee wanted that to be the case. He wanted to be everything Gerard needed. But after much careful thought, he shook his head. 

“Sorry.” Zee said quietly. 

“No. There’s nothing to be sorry for.” Gerard insisted, “It’s entirely possible the strand of hair I used to clone you was from before Frank had come up with that plan…” 

“...But you have another idea, don’t you?” Zee asked curiously. 

Gerard nodded excitedly. Zee was just happy to see him smiling. His smile was so bright, he could power all the street lamps in Batt City for the next century with it. 

“It’s completely insane, and requires your complete and utter adherence.” Gerard said, “But I think I can get us there… To the safe house.”  

“Where do I sign up?” Zee grinned. 

“I haven’t thought this through very hard, so I’m sure there’s holes in my plan, but just… just hear me out…” Gerard said, talking excitedly with his hands, “As soon as I got those pings I sat down and ran the cloning prototype. I didn’t wait for clearance from upper management. I needed you here with me as soon as possible. So first things first, I just need to get their hands off my place here in Batt City. As soon as you’re ready, I want to take you down to the licensing department. The tellers are all droids, so all we have to do is convince them you’re Frank, get our hands scanned, and get the hell out of there. It’ll take them awhile to process everything, but just re-filing should be enough to get Frank’s name off their lists or whatever. I know that won’t be the end of it, but it’s a good start.” 

Gerard paused to sit on the floor, next to one of the guitars. Zee almost wanted to offer Gerard his chair, but stopped when he realized Gerard wanted to be down there. He gently ran his fingers over the guitar closest to him, brushing the dust that had collected off the guitar’s body.

“It’s obvious to me that they don’t think Frank is actually dead.” Gerard explained, “He’s got one hell of a criminal record, so they probably think he’s just been avoiding the system all this time. They think I know where he is, and I want to give the illusion that I  _ do _ know where he is. You following so far?” 

Zee nodded once, firmly, lifting a hand up to bite at his fingernails as he listened. 

“In the meantime, we need to find directions to the safe house.” Gerard continued, “I already got clearance to go out to the zones in a few days to look for plant samples to improve that green stuff you hated so much.” 

“What? It’s uncomfortable after it dries.” Zee defended. 

“Noted.” Gerard smiled, blinking as his train of thought was derailed, “So anyways… I set parameters to where I’m supposed to be collecting. I can get you an assistant badge so no one asks questions. Again, we’d mostly be dealing with droids as they process us out. The only thing is… Frank could rig their cars to adjust the mileage. They’ll never know where we went if you can do that. Do you think you can?” 

“I… don’t know.” Zee said honestly.

“That’s not a ‘no’ so it’s good enough for me.” Gerard said. 

“So.. what do we do when we find this place?” Zee asked. Excited. The plan was totally crazy, but not impossible. They’d done crazier things before. Zee couldn’t remember them, but he was sure of it. 

“We um…” Gerard faltered, “We… I don’t know?” 

Zee’s heart sank as he watched Gerard’s face return to its neutral frown again. 

“I guess that depends on the state of the place?” Gerard mused, “If it’s just an empty shell… Maybe we’ll come back to Batt City? I’m sure I’ll have thought of a plan B, by then. But what if it’s not an empty shell, Zee? What if he’s…” 

Gerard stopped. He probably knew how unrealistic what he was about to suggest sounded. 

“We’ll do it.” Zee promised, regretting having even asked, “We’ll go see.” 

“Right.” Gerard nodded. 

“Well… I’ll get started on finding the map, then. Or directions? Or… whatever.” Zee said, turning back towards the computer. The interface was familiar. The logo in the corner of the screen proudly flashed, ‘encrypted’ to remind Zee that the terminal wasn’t being scanned by BLi/nd.

There were designated icons for pictures, documents, music. Zee hastily went for documents and scrolled through the file names.    
At least Frank had worked a little bit to hide the safe house’s location. All of the file names were just… long strings of numbers. 

“This’ll be fun...” Zee commented, clicking on the first document. He didn’t need to read beyond the first line, something about ‘the entrails of society,’ to know it was a poem. The lines were all in neat stanzas. 

“What’s wrong?” Gerard asked, lifting himself off the floor and crossing the small room to stare at the screen over Zee’s shoulder. Zee could feel Gerard right behind him and it made a chill crawl up his spine. He could feel every centimeter between them. 

“Nothing.” Zee sighed, closing the document, “Frank’s just… smarter than I gave him credit for.” 

“What do you mean?” Gerard asked. 

“There’s just a lot to sift through here. And all the files are numbered, rather than named.” Zee explained, “Kinda like me.” 

Zee opened the next document and closed it again without reading the first line. Poem. At the rate he was going, he’d be working his way through Frank’s documents all night. 

“Sorry about the name thing…” Gerard said quietly, “I’d read some literatures about clone theory… Like what to expect in terms of cognitive abilities, and how to code brain sequencers… the importance of keeping blood sugar up for the first week, but nothing about like,  _ the obvious stuff. _ ”

“It’s fine.”  Zee said, “Really. You’ve got a lot of other stuff going on right now. I think I get it.” 

He kept working his way through the documents. Most of which were poems. Some appeared to be short stories. Frank had dabbled quite a bit in writing, it seemed. Zee was taking notes on his poetic asshole of a DNA-donor. Or,  _ Co-Creator _ as Mikey had called him. 

“I don’t know if I can look at this stuff...” Gerard sighed after a moment. 

“Then don’t.” Zee said, opening another document, “I got this part.” 

“You sure?” Gerard asked, “It’s your first day...  _ alive _ . You don’t have to spend it in my boyfriend’s dark closet.” 

“You still call him your boyfriend?” Zee asked absentmindedly, going instead to the photos folder and scrolling through. He felt a little guilty as soon as he’d realized what he’d asked, but he skipped out on his apology and went straight to opening the files one by one in hopes that one of them might be a map. If he found a map he wouldn’t have to bother with finding a way to gracefully change the subject. Mostly the photos were just… close-ups of computer guts. Motherboards covered in hand-soldered microchips. Tangles of wires… Fuses and bulbs and bar codes. 

Gerard didn’t answer. 

“Were you trying to suggest that it’s my birthday?” Zee asked as a subject change, flipping through the photos at a fast pace. He passed one of Gerard and hesitated for a moment before flipping to the next one. 

“Yeah.” Gerard breathed. And oh, fucking shit, if he was crying Zee didn’t want to know. He hadn’t meant to make Gerard cry. Fuck. 

“Well I’d say we should do something special… but…” Zee trailed off. 

“But?” Gerard prompted, sighing heavily, obviously having gotten his emotions a little more under control.

“But the only thing I want for my birthday is to get us the hell out of here, since I know you won’t smile for me for real until we do.” Zee offered, “So I’m just fine with sitting in your boyfriend’s dark closet on my birthday.”

It was easier to be honest when he wasn’t looking at Gerard. He almost turned around when Gerard didn’t say anything right away, but he kept his eyes glued to the screen, dutifully searching. 

“I’ll leave you to it...” Gerard sighed after a beat, “I’m going to go lie down on the couch for a bit. Cloning is…   _ exhausting… _ ” 

“You’re telling me...” Zee mouthed silently to himself. 

“You can take the bed for tonight.” Gerard added, “We’ll figure out something more concrete for tomorrow night when it’s um... tomorrow.” 

“Cool.” Zee said. It wasn’t actually cool. It was fucking weird. But Zee was done hesitating. He was going to fulfill the purpose he’d been created for as quickly as possible so that he could start actually living. 

 

And okay as soon as Gerard left the room, Zee totally went back to study that photo of Gerard. He hadn’t allowed himself to really look at Gerard all day. It wasn’t that he hadn’t wanted to, he just hadn’t wanted to be caught doing it. Now that he was free to carefully consider every curve, every angle, Zee was totally entranced. 

In the picture, Gerard was in his lab. His white coat hung from his shoulders and his brow was furrowed in concentration as he worked on something. Frank had obviously been the one who snapped the picture. And it had to be digital. The shadows were too soft for the picture to be a film scan. 

Zee found dozens upon dozens of other pictures of Gerard, obviously all taken by Frank. He looked at all of them carefully, trying to piece together what their life had been like. 

Gerard had used the term ‘selective memory.’ Zee could pull some memories to the forefront of his brain, but not everything. The things he could remember were foggy at best. He could picture Gerard when he was younger and wilder, still full of curiosity about the strict limits set by the city around them. He could picture smoking smuggled cigarettes with Gerard in empty alleyways, always glancing around for patrols every couple of puffs. He could remember collecting the pills BLi/nd distributed to the citizens of Batt City. They’d tried to test their contents in the small lab Gerard had put together in his room. He could even remember holding Gerard’s hand. And he knew he trusted Gerard in some deep, unconditional sort of way, but he couldn’t remember having ever kissed him. Even though they must have kissed plenty. 

Sighing, Zee went back to sorting through Frank’s files. The sooner he found what they were looking for, the sooner he could get the fuck away from this fucking downer of an impossible love triangle. He wasn’t sure how many hours he sat there, sifting through poem after poem. Sometimes he scrolled to the bottom of the document, just to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. 

Eventually he found a map of the zones. It didn’t have the safe house marked on it anywhere, but at least it gave Zee something to compare to when he eventually found what he was looking for. 

Zee was practically drooling on the keyboard when he scrolled past a number in the middle of one of Frank’s poems. He should’ve been paying more attention. The first stanza had just been Gerard’s name over and over, which should’ve sent off alarms in his brain. Frank was trying to address Gerard directly. And come to think of it, he’d seen a number in the middle of the last poem, too… He backtracked, opening the previous poem and scrolling down. 

  1. _Three._



He held that number in his head and opened the next poem again. 

  1. _Six_. 



Each document down the list started the same, in a stanza that was just Gerard’s name over and over. As Zee opened document after document he collected the numbers in his head. 

When the string of numbers got too long to hold in his head, he grabbed a pen and wrote them down on the notepad next to the keyboard. Zee stared blankly at the numbers, trying to make sense of them. He looked at the map of the zones again, trying to figure out what they might mean. It felt like he was on to  _ something _ , but there just weren’t as many zones as there were number sequences, no matter how he broke them down.

When he couldn’t sit there any longer, Zee got up. Curious if Gerard wanted to take a guess at what Frank’s numbers might mean, he quietly tiptoed his way to the living room.

He was almost surprised to find Gerard awake, staring blankly at the TV. He’d turned the lights off and thrown a blanket over his lap, but it didn’t look like he’d even tried to consider sleep yet. 

“Hey.” Zee said softly, standing in the doorway. 

“Oh. Hey.” Gerard said, head shooting up and squinting to try and make Zee out in the dark.  

“Can I talk to you for a second?” Zee asked. 

“Yeah.” Gerard nodded, “Of course… You don’t have to  _ ask permission, _ Zero. There’s no need to be so…  _ formal.  _ Not with me.” 

“Right.” Zee said, crossing the room and sitting on the couch beside Gerard, putting as much space between them as he could. 

“How come you’re still awake?” Zee asked conversationally, trying to break the awkward tension. 

“I’m just not used to sharing my space with another person, I guess?” Gerard shrugged, “It’s just… been so long, you know?” 

“I don’t. But… I _ get it. _ ” Zee said comfortingly

“Have you had any luck with the map?” Gerard asked. 

Zee tried his best to ignore the hopeful tone to Gerard’s voice. 

“I think I found something.” Zee said, “But it’s just a clue… not…  _ not… _ ” 

“Not something simple and obvious and helpful, like the fucking coordinates or something?” Gerard finished sarcastically, “Well, at least he kept the details well-hidden…” 

Coordinates. That was  _ it.  _

_ “Fuck!” _ Zee gasped. 

“What?” Gerard asked worriedly. 

“You’re a fucking genius.” Zee beamed, lifting himself off the couch and practically running back to Frank’s computer room. 

He glanced at the numbers again.  _ Definitely coordinates. _ There was an even number of numbers, so Zee drew a line right through the middle of them. Longitude. Latitude. 

Double-checking that the system was still encrypted, Zee plugged the numbers into the computer’s GPS widget. The map zoomed in on an unassuming patch of desert, somewhere along the old California-Nevada border. 

“You think it’s… _ there? _ ” Gerard asked, breaking the trance the screen had been holding over Zee. 

“Yeah.” Zee said, “Frank left the numbers in the middle of his poems.” 

“What if it’s just a coincidence?” Gerard asked. 

Zee turned to glare at him. 

“Sorry.” Gerard backpedaled, “I know that’s an incredibly unhelpful thing to suggest… it’s just…” 

“I’m sure about this.” Zee defended, “Don’t ask me how I know. I just know.” 

“...Alright.” Gerard sighed, biting his lip. He still seemed unconvinced. 

“If it makes you feel any better I’ll check through the rest of his files.” Zee offered. 

“You don’t have to do that.” Gerard said, shaking his head, “Shaking his head.” 

“No, I kind of do if we ever wanna find this place.” Zee pointed out, “It’s good to cover all our bases.” 

“Well,  _ maybe… _ ” Gerard admitted, “But you don’t have to do it all tonight. There will be time tomorrow. We can’t go anywhere until your immunizations have settled anyways.” 

“Oh yeah.” Zee frowned. He slid a hand down over the injection sight and pressed a hand against it through the fabric of his pants. Still sore. 

“You should maybe read some of his poems. If you have time, I mean.” Zee said, “I think most of them are about you.” 

With that Zee got up to give the computer over to Gerard. Gerard just stared between Zee and the chair in front of the screen, like the clone had suggested something totally unreasonable. 

“Or not.” Zee amended, with a forced, comforting smile. 

“Maybe  _ you _ should read them. They might help with your cognition.” Gerard suggested. 

“No thanks.” Zee laughed. 

Gerard just blinked at him, clearly not following. 

“Frank was sort of fucking…” Zee hesitated, “ _ Dramatic. _ ” 

“And you’re not?” Gerard asked, raising a curious eyebrow. 

“I didn’t say that, now did I?” Zee smirked, stepping past Gerard and out of the small room. 

“Think I’m gonna try get some sleep.” Zee added, turning his head to talk over his shoulder, “You should, too.” 

“Yeah alright.” Gerard agreed quietly, “Well, goodnight.” 

“Yeah. Goodnight.” Zee echoed. 

 

Per their earlier agreement, Zee took the bed and Gerard went for the couch. It was weird to sit down on the edge of the bed, eyes cast down against the floor as Gerard left the room and closed the door behind him. The was an air of pretending to their whole situation that felt so unnatural. They had always worked out so well as friends, as lovers, because they never had to pretend with each other. Zero wasn’t sure how he knew this. It was just one of those things that just carried over in the cloning process. He just knew. 

He slid out of his pants and left them crumpled on the floor, racking his brain to try and remember what Frank would’ve done with his discarded garments. Was there a laundry chute? Cleaning droids? Zee couldn’t remember. 

It was weird to pull the covers up over himself and try to get comfortable. For one, he wasn’tl actually  tired at all. But it didn’t help that the bed smelled like  _ Gerard  _ in this really comforting, familiar sort of way. He tried to work through how something could be familiar when he’d technically never experienced it before, but this only managed to make his head hurt. 

Certainly someone had to have written a theory literature on how to manage a situation like this. Frank and Gerard hadn’t been the first people looking to clone human beings, they’d just been the first ones to actually do it. As far as Zee knew, anyways. Really it had been Gerard that successfully cloned a human. Which was kind of an amazing feat in terms of science and innovation. 

Maybe Zee would be the one to write literatures on clone life and theory, since he was the first person to really know what it was like. He dozed off organizing all of his problems into neat little chapters. 


	2. RebelNet

Zero awoke early the next morning to blinding white light.  
Half the lights in the ceiling were on a timer, serving as an alarm clock. Systems like this were typical in most Bli-sanctioned housing. Zee had forgotten about this totally annoying, early-morning intrusion on his eyes. He pulled the covers over his head, trying to remember the voice command to shut them off. He must’ve slept at least a few hours, but it felt as though it couldn’t have been more than five minutes.  
As soon as the lights dimmed and Zee was ready to drift off to sleep again, it occurred to him that Gerard probably needed to get up and report to the lab. Begrudgingly, he crawled out of bed and headed for the living room, nearly smacking into the metal of the bedroom door in his efforts to get to the den without touching the access panel first. There had to be a way to make it open automatically without palm entry. That was how it _used to be._  
Zero had more pressing concerns at the moment. He ran a hand through his hair to straighten it out a little before hurrying the rest of the way to Gerard.  
Gerard was fast asleep on the couch, arms crossed, still in his lab coat. His face was perfectly peaceful and still, aside from the way his brows were gently pulled together in a sleepy scowl.  
Zero cleared his throat.  
“Um, Gee?” He said softly, reaching out a hand and letting it hover a few inches from Gerard’s shoulder.  
“Gee?” Zee spoke again, carefully resting a fingertip on the fabric of Gerard’s lab coat. He let the rest of his hand lay gently against Gerard’s arm. His heart fluttered at the contact.  
“Gerard?” Zero said a little louder, _“Lab time…”_  
Gerard’s expression softened as his eyes fluttered open. He glanced up at Zero dreamily.  
“...Frank?” Gerard asked slowly, disbelief coloring his features, “How did you…?”  
“Um, it’s _me._ Subject Zero Zero.” Zee clarified awkwardly, pulling his hand away, “Frank’s, um... copy?”  
“Oh…” Gerard said quietly, “Right. Good morning.”  
Gerard tried to mask the flash of disappointment that came along with realizing the person standing before him wasn’t his long-lost lover, but Zero caught it anyways. He’d have to process the horrible feeling he suddenly got in his chest when he had time later on.  
“Good morning, sir.” Zero said, swallowing hard, “The uh, light timers came on. In your room? Do you need to report to the lab?”  
“Oh... I suppose I do.” Gerard yawned, uncurling his arms and sitting up, “Thank you for waking me… and please don’t call me ‘sir.’ I prefer _‘Gerard.’_ ”  
“Sorry, Gerard.” Zee amended, “I’ll just…”  
He waved his hand in the direction of the bedroom and turned to go back to bed. Only it occurred to him that perhaps Gerard needed to change for the lab so he went, instead, for Frank’s computer room. He lifted a hand to the door’s access panel to close the door behind him in order to give Gerard some privacy. Picking up one of the guitars, he was surprised how natural it felt to perch on the work stool in front of the computer system and run his fingers over the frets.  
He knew he could play the guitar - remembered playing it before, even - but when he tried to make the shape of a chord with his fingers he simply couldn’t… remember how? It was the strangest thing.  
Zee lifted his fingers off the frets and strummed on the open strings. The guitar was out of tune. About _five years out of tune,_ if he had to guess. He slid off the stool and put the dusty guitar back on it’s stand. He glanced around at the other guitars around the room. The room had obviously been designed with atmosphere controls to protect the guitars. None of them looked damaged or warped.  
Zee knelt before one of the guitars and ran his fingers through the dust, thinking about how Frank had left all of this, whether he’d meant to or not. The guitars, the books, the labs, not to mention the incredibly sad and beautiful person in the other room. Frank had left it all. Zero felt a strange sort of resentment, though he supposed that resentment was directed at himself in a way. Frank had left all this, but since he was Frank in a way, he supposed he’d do the same if given the choice. He’d like to say he was better than that, but the proof was in the statistics. Frank _had_ left.  
“Um, Zero?” Gerard asked from the other side of the door, snapping Zero out of his wondering.  
“Yeah?” Zee called out, wandering over the access panel and placing his hand on the pad to open the door again. He’d forgotten Gerard needed Frank’s hand print to open it.  
“So I have to report to the lab...” Gerard said, fumbling with his tie. Zero thoughtlessly stepped forward to help him with it. He realized too late what he was doing but Gerard either didn’t notice how close they were or he didn’t care, so Zee kept fussing with the knot.  
“But, um...” Gerard went on, “I’m sorry. To leave you here, I mean. I can’t let you out into the city until your immunizations clear, so you have to stay here for now. But as soon as Mikey gives me the ‘okay’ we’ll go out. I promise.”  
“Can you… sing me a song before you go?” Zero asked, smoothing down Gerard’s collar.  
“Um, what?” Gerard asked, smiling uncertainly, “What song?”  
“Any song…” Zero prompted, “I just… can’t remember any of them?”  
Gerard pursed his lips as he thought about it. Zero could practically see the gears turning in Gerard’s head as his mind worked through the science of cloned musicians and the essence of music discovery and muse.  
“Any song.” Zero repeated, “Something Frank liked, something you like. I don’t care.”  
Gerard considered Zero for a moment before taking a deep breath.  
“ _Oh you’ve got blue eyes. Oh you’ve got green eyes. Oh you’ve got grey eyes..._ ” Gerard sang hesitantly, slightly off-key. It was almost spoken more than sung. He studied Zero’s expression, in silence for a moment once he’d stopped.  
“‘Temptation’...” Gerard explained, “New Order. Mikey’s favorite.”  
“Temptation?” Zero repeated.  
“ _Temptation._ ” Gerard nodded.  
“Thank you.” Zero said.  
“Frank had a lot of music files on there. Piracy was sort of his thing.” Gerard said, eyes darting towards the computer system in the corner, “Maybe... spend some time going through those? I’d be curious to know how your tastes compare.”  
Zero nodded, pulling his hands away once he was satisfied with Gerard’s appearance. There was nothing he could do about the wrinkles in Gerard’s lab coat, or the messy disarray of his hair.  
“Anyways...” Gerard sighed, hesitating for a moment before turning to head for his lab.  
“See you.” Zero said, watching Gerard leave. It felt wrong to stare, but he couldn’t pull his eyes away.  
“Oh. One more thing, Zero.” Gerard said, turning to face the clone again, “Maybe this goes without saying but just…. Try not to get into any trouble?”  
“Okay?” Zero said curiously. He hadn’t been expecting Gerard to make such a request, not when he’d been nothing but _good._  
“It’s not that I don’t trust you it’s just… Frank had such a proclivity for trouble.” Gerard explained, “And you’re very important. Not just to me, but to science, and to the revolution. So, to that end, if anything seems wrong in any way please don’t hesitate to come get me.”  
Zero nodded obediently, trying not to read between the lines too much.  
“The lab is just at the end of the hall and to the left. I’ll be back late afternoon.” Gerard went on.  
Zero nodded again, feeling small under Gerard’s heavy gaze.  
“Alright…” Gerard breathed, opening the door into the hallway. It quickly slid shut behind him and just like that, Zero was alone in Gerard’s apartment.  
  
He turned around and faced the empty room. So much white. Mind-numbing white. He couldn’t wait to get outside, maybe see the sky. He technically hadn’t seen it yet.  
Zero headed for the kitchenette to poke through the storage compartments. He found a box of bli-sanctioned meal-replacer biscuits that looks as though they’d been there awhile. He opened the packet and took a bite without bothering to pop them into the toaster-oven first. The whole point was that they were quicker than preparing a meal, anyways, so he thought it ridiculous that they were supposed to be cooked. He ate the biscuit quickly, the poorly seasoned dough was just unsatisfying enough that he felt no need to eat the second biscuit in the packet. The small amount of sugar made him feel relatively normal again, though, if it was possible for clones to feel normal. He wasn’t sure about that one.  
This, of course, reminded him of what Gerard had said the day before about keeping his blood sugar up and so Zero found himself poking around in the cooler for another can of bli-sanctioned can of soda to wash down his biscuit.  
He brought the can back to Frank’s music room and sat at the computer. The old machine booted to life and Zee once again lost himself in research. He prompted the computer to list driving instructions for the old safe house, and had them printed for Gerard to look over.  
Next Zee went for the music files, just as Gerard had suggested. He was flipping through the list, alphabetical, by song title, when he heard a ping at the front door...  
  
He froze. Who could it be? It obviously wasn’t Gerard. Gerard would just come in.  
All Zero could think to do was pretend he wasn’t home. But Bli had their ways of knowing if organic cells resided in the living units. There was no use trying to trick them.  
As silently as possible, Zero slid off the stool and closed the door to the music room behind him. He glanced at the front door for a moment, unsure how to proceed. Should he pretend he was Frank or would that only make things worse? He and Gerard hadn’t discussed the best course of action in a scenario like this.  
Zero swallowed hard and started stepping towards the door. It pinged again. Louder this time.  
He could hear a woman’s voice faintly on the other side of the door.  
As soon as he got close enough, he pressed the camera button. A woman with long black hair in a lab coat was standing on the other side of the door, finger rested against the doorbell.  
“Subject Zero Zero? Are you in there?” she asked into the ‘com.  
She knew his name. How was that possible? Who would Gerard have told?  
“Dr. Way sent me to see you.” she went on, “Gerard’s brother, I mean? You know Mikey.”  
Zee hesitated for another moment before lifting his hand up to the access panel. He glanced around the room looking for something he could attack her with if she was armed. He decided the laser cutter on the counter in the kitchenette would be his best bet. He pressed his hand against the glass to lift the door.  
“Hello.” Zero said politely, “Can I help you?”  
“Hello.” She said, stepping into the unit. The doors slid shut behind her, locking her in with him. Zero’s heart was pounding with unease. He took a few steps back, trying to keep his face as expressionless as possible.  
“My name is Alicia. I’m Dr. Way’s assistant. He sent me to come check your vitals.” she offered, “You got immunizations yesterday, remember?”  
“Gerard didn’t say anything about this.” Zero answered skeptically. If she was from Bli, he’d just blown his cover. No citizen who took their Bli-Sanctioned pills every morning would protest such a simple, reasonable request.  
“Gerard doesn’t want you to be alone all day.” She explained, “He was just on a call with Mikey and Mikey suggested that I come over to hang out with you for a few hours. Gerard agreed.”  
“Alright.” Zee agreed quietly, “Well, I prefer to be called Zero or Zee. None of that test subject bullshit.”  
“Zero... Okay.” Alicia nodded, “That has a nice ring to it.”  
Zero took a few more steps back, towards the kitchenette, and by extension, the laser cutter. Alicia mirrored his movements, stepping further into the unit.  
“I don’t need a babysitter.” Zero said, “I know it’s not your fault, that they just sent you here… but I’ll be good, I promise. You can go.”  
“Afraid I can’t.” she said, shaking her head, “Dr. Way is pretty stubborn, especially when it comes to his brother.”  
“I won’t tell if you won’t.” Zero said. She wasn’t taking the hints. He was _trying_ to get rid of her.  
“I’m sorry. I really have to stay.” She said, “If you want to be alone I can just… stay here. I do need to report your vitals back to Dr. Way though.”  
“Fine.” Zero said, dropping onto the couch, watching Alicia’s movements carefully. She set down a large PVC bag on the coffee table. The plastic was blurred, but Zero could make out the outlines of medical equipment. A stethoscope, a temperature gun, alcohol swabs that were no doubt meant for sticking needles in people’s asses. Zero didn’t appreciate that thought one bit.  
He let her work on him, deciding, as the seconds ticked by, that she probably had been sent by Gerard’s awful brother after all.  
Zero stuck out his tongue when she got out the temperature gun.  
“No silly.” She said, swiping the end of the gun over his forehead. The device beeped loudly as the smooth tip ran over his skin.  
“You’ve been with us for less than a day and you already hate doctors.” She laughed, “Just like Frankie.”  
“You knew Frank...” Zero commented.  
“Better than Mikey or even Gerard.” Alicia nodded, “We go way back.”  
“Why don’t I recognize you then?” Zero asked.  
“I’m not even going to pretend I understand the first thing about cloning.” She answered, letting out a small breath of a laugh. She slid the temperature gun back into her bag and got out her pocket comm. She began typing a message, probably to Mikey, if Zee had to guess. She slid it back into the bag and reached for the stethoscope.  
“But I remembered Gerard.” Zero mused, “Why wouldn’t I remember you?”  
“Frank _loved_ Gerard.” Alicia offered, “Wouldn’t surprise me if that transferred over somehow. Love is weird like that… always inserting itself into places where science says it shouldn’t be able to go.”  
“I didn’t say I love him.” Zero corrected defensively.  
“I know.” She smiled, placing the stethoscope over her ears, “I didn’t mean to suggest you do. It’s just so strange though, you look _just like him._ ”  
“That’s what I’ve been told.” Zero sighed, taking a deep breath as she pressed the end of the device over his chest to listen to his heart.  
“You’re vitals seem… good.” she commented, sliding the end of the stethoscope across his chest to listen to his lungs, “I won’t take your blood pressure if you don’t want me to.”  
“Let’s not and say we did.” Zero offered.  
“Fair enough.” She grinned, “So… Dr. Way says you’re not supposed to leave the apartment just yet but… is there anything I can help you with while you’re stuck here? It must be awful to be all cooped up here like this.”  
Zero thought carefully for a moment, eyeing Frank’s old friend. Her BLi-Sanctioned uniform suited her well. The fabric was pure white without a stain in sight. She blinked at Zero curiously. She unsnapped a white wristband from her right wrist, revealing a small star tattoo. It was a bold place to put a tattoo. Batt City authorities wouldn’t stand for something like that if they saw it.  
Of course there were tattoo parlors in Batt City, but the one on Alicia’s wrist was a traditional tattoo, done with a tattoo gun and India ink. Nowadays, artists did all their work with guns rigged with lasers. The ink didn’t fade as much, and it was a thousand times easier to remove.  
If Alicia had an old world tattoo on her wrist, it meant she’d been outside the city limits. She was one drop in an ocean of rebels against Better Living. She was one of the good guys.  
Zero just hoped that if he stared at Alicia for long enough he’d remember her. He wanted to remember other people that had been in Frank’s life. His parents? His friends? He couldn’t picture them, though he knew Frank must’ve had those, too.  
He knew it probably wasn’t safe to trust everyone who said they knew Frank, but Zero decided he could trust her. If she was Mikey’s assistant, she probably knew things about the Ways that other members of the rebellion didn’t. She also definitely didn’t take her morning pills.  
“I want to… not look like Frank.” Zero confessed.  
“That’s an interesting request.” Alicia said, cocking her head, “Tell me more.”  
“This morning Gerard thought I was…” Zero trailed off, “The look he gave me when he realized I wasn’t _Frank._ ”  
“Oh.” Alicia said solemnly, understanding coloring her expression.  
“Yeah.” Zero sighed.  
“So are you guys like...” She paused, “You know what? I don’t mean to pry.”  
“No. Like _what?_ ” Zero asked.  
“...Romantic? ….with one another?” Alicia asked.  
“Oh, um, no.” Zero said, shaking his head, “At first I thought- Well- It’s just… not like that?”  
Alicia nodded.  
“I tried to kiss him yesterday.” Zero admitted, “I thought he wanted me to...”  
“Frank loved him.” Alicia offered comfortingly, “It’s okay if you… feel something for him, too.”  
“I don’t want to.” Zero said, “I don’t think I do, but I don’t know?”  
“I’d love to say I know what you’re going through… but I’ve never been cloned by my domestic partner.” Alicia said sheepishly, “I don’t even _have_ a domestic partner. It's a lot of fucking paperwork.”  
“It’s okay.” Zero shrugged.  
“We could style your hair differently...” Alicia said, reaching out a hand to run it through Zero’s lengthy bangs, “That seems like a good place to start.”  
Zero nodded furiously, earning a knowing smirk from Alicia. He stood up and headed for the bathroom with his new friend in tow.  
Zero popped out one of the wall storage units to look for Gerard’s stash of Bli-sanctioned grooming products. He found a comb and styling gel and passed them both to Alicia.  
“Do you want to part your hair differently?” Alicia asked, inspecting the container of gel, “We could try that?”  
“I don’t want my hair _parted._ ” Zee snorted. His eyes landed on a pair of clippers. He reached for them and immediately looked for somewhere to plug them in.  
“Whoa whoa whoa.” Alicia protested, “I meant we could _style_ it differently not _shave your head?_ ”  
“I don’t wanna look like Frank anymore.” Zero said, turning the clippers on. The loud buzzing filled the small room, echoing off the tile walls.  
Alicia stared at Zero worriedly in the mirror’s reflection.  
“Are you gonna help me, or are you gonna make me do this myself?” Zero asked, raising the clippers closer to his hair.  
“Well if those are my options…” she trailed off, grabbing the device from Zero’s hand and running her fingers through his hair.  
“...So you want me to shave it all off?” She asked skeptically.  
“Just, start with the sides.” Zero instructed, “But not too short. Not all the way down to the scalp.”  
“You want a hawk. Got it.” She said, hesitating with the clippers still an inch or so away, “Are you sure? They’re more likely to stop you if you don’t have an authorized cut...”  
“Do I have to do it myself?” Zero asked. Now that he was excited, no one could talk him out of this.  
“Absolutely not.” Alicia said, pulling the clippers out of his reach, “You’ll never get the back straight if you do it yourself.”  
“That’s what I thought.” Zero smirked, closing his eyes as he felt the razors chew into the first tuft of his hair.  
“Just like Frankie...” she said under her breath.  
Zero could feel the cut up chunks of hair landing on his shoulders. Some of the tufts tickled his arms as they floated down to the floor. He kept his eyes closed until Alicia was done.  
“Do you know where the scissors are?” Alicia asked, turning the clippers off, “I wanna trim your bangs to match the rest.”  
“Probably in the same storage unit.” Zero said, letting his eyes flutter open. He definitely looked different, but his face was still unmistakably Frank-like.  
She set the clippers down on the countertop and brushed some of the tufts of hair off Zero’s shoulders. She ran her hands through his hair to get the excess strands off.  
“This is much better though, thank you.” Zee said, reaching a hand up to run his fingers over a part of his hair that had been shaved down. It felt so nice and short.  
“Hang on.” She said, pulling out a pair of scissors. She turned him so that she had better light. He watched her features as she thoughtfully trimmed the top of his hair, smoothing strands down into place, and chopping off others. He still didn’t recognize her and wished so badly that he could.  
“Much better…” she said eventually, spinning him around to face the mirror.  
It was definitely better. He almost wished he had taken a picture of the way his hair had been before so he could compare the difference.  
“You know… I could give you a makeover, if you think it would make you feel better.” Alicia offered.  
“And here I thought you were worried about me getting stopped by the authorities.” Zero smirked.  
“Well, you’re already fucked.” she shrugged, “Why not go all out?”  
Zero just nodded.  
  
It turned out Alicia’s doctor bag didn’t just contain medical equipment. Inside of one of the many cases were a series of makeup pencils. First she did Zero’s brows, and then of course, he requested for the same thick black color that lined her eyes.  
He changed his clothes, but they’d still managed to track Zee’s hair all over the apartment, so they got out the cleaning bot to start on tidying the floors. He still had tiny pieces of hair stuck to him all over, and they made him itch and fidget whenever he tried to sit still.  
Zero felt much more comfortable with his new appearance, though. He hadn’t really changed much, but he had a feeling Gerard wouldn’t be mistaking him for Frank again anytime soon.  
He asked Alicia to tell him about Frank. The more he learned about the man he’d been designed after, the easier it would be for Zero to distinguish himself. She mostly told him things that Zero already knew. Frank hated the authorities. He hated doctors. He loved Gerard. He’d developed a way to clone livestock that wasn’t sentient to ease the guilt of the BLi-sanctioned meat consumption he’d succumbed to early in his life. He _fucking_ loved Gerard, and Gerard _fucking loved him._ **Vomit.**  
“But how did _you_ meet Frank?” Zero had asked.  
“The detention facility.” Alicia answered, “Where else? He fucking ran that place.”  
Frank had been a badass, and everyone had loved him for it. That was the theory Zero had been building. If he wanted to win Gerard over, he’d have to prove he was even tougher somehow. He’d have to show Gerard that he could be just as bad.  
  
They were cleaning up the bathroom when Zero’s eyes fell on an unmarked bottle of black liquid.  
“What’s that?” Alicia asked curiously.  
“This is what Gerard uses to dye his hair.” Zero informed.  
“His hair isn’t naturally black?” Alicia gasped.  
“No.” Zero smirked, “We changed it in the system when we were teenagers, so now he has to keep it black ‘cause it says he’s supposed to have black hair on all the paperwork he filled out when he started working for BLi.”  
“No shit.” She said, grabbing the bottle, “What’s in it?”  
“Whatever they use to oil the cogs in the droids mixes wonderfully with peroxide.” Zero informed, “Don’t ask me how I know all this… I don’t know how I know it.”  
“I won’t.” She snorted.  
“Give it back.” Zero requested, eyeing the bottle.  
“Why?” She asked worriedly.  
“Why do you think?” Zero asked, raising an eyebrow.  
“Gerard will kill me.” She said.  
“No he won’t.” Zero promised, pulling the bottle from her hands.  
“ _Dr. Way might._ ” She pointed out.  
“We’ll tell them it was my idea.” Zero grinned.  
“Alright. But it’s your funeral, kid.” she sighed.  
“I’m banking on it.” Zero informed triumphantly.  
~  
  
Alicia had dyed hair before. She worked the dye in so expertly, leaving no strand untouched. It took a considerable amount of dye to cover Zero’s whole head. His hair kept sucking up the dye like a sponge.  
“What’s this scar on your neck?” Alicia asked, prodding at Zero’s skin, just below his hairline, “Was it part of your… _immaculate conception_ or whatever?”  
“What scar?” Zero asked, hand flying up to touch the skin Alicia’s gloved fingers had brushed, “Hey, did you just compare me to _Jesus?_ ”  
“Oh, you know what?” Alicia breathed, tilting Zero’s head to the side, “Frank had a tattoo here.”  
“He had tattoos all over, I thought?” Zero said.  
“Yeah but… no, this is definitely the outline.” Alicia said, “How is this even possible?”  
“You’re asking the wrong guy.” Zero offered sarcastically.  
“No, just listen for a sec.” Alicia scolded fondly, “What if… Okay, what if… So Tattoo ink isn’t an organic part of you, it’s driven into your skin, but _scar tissue…_ ”  
“The outline of Frank’s tattoo transferred over in the cloning process.” Zero said, following Alicia’s train of thought.  
“I don’t know what else it could be. I can totally make out the tail. It was… a scorpion, I think?” Alicia mumbled, “Do you have any other scars like this?”  
“Fuck if I know.” Zee snorted.  
“Take your shirt off.” Alicia insisted.  
“You’re kind of dying my hair right now.” Zee reminded.  
“Right. Well as soon as we rinse this out, I’m checking the rest of you.” Alicia insisted, “This is too weird.”  
~  
  
Gerard wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting when he returned to his apartment, but he was definitely taken aback by the sight of Mikey’s assistant helping Frank’s clone towel off his newly jet black hair. They were both laughing and when Zero turned, his face was streaked with another black substance. It almost looked as though he’d _cried it off._  
They both stopped laughing when Gerard cleared his throat.  
A wide grin split across Zero’s face when he saw Gerard.  
“Hi.” He said, crossing the room to greet Gerard.  
“What the hell did you-” Gerard asked, reaching out and touching Zero’s damp hair.  
“I dyed it.” Zero said, “Do you like it?”  
“Have you been crying?” Gerard asked worriedly, touching Zero’s face, “What did you use to change the color?”  
“You’re dye-” Zero started to explain.  
“ _Fucking shit._ ” Gerard interrupted in a hushed town, “Your cellular anatomy is modified. I don’t know if your cells can withstand a complex oxidizing chemical process like that.”  
He spun Zero around and started checking for interruptions in the clone’s structural integrity - injuries common people referred to as _burns._  
~  
  
Alicia raised a curious eyebrow as she made eye contact with Zero. He knew what she must be thinking, but he was too distracted to care. His eyes kept falling shut. It just felt so fucking good to have Gerard’s hands on him like that. He’d have to find someone else to do this if Gerard wasn’t going to be touching him like this regularly.  
He was muttering a bunch of science shit to himself, and Zero, being on cloud 9 and all, couldn’t be bothered to understand a single word of it.  
“I think, um, I ought to report back to the lab.” Alicia said quietly averting her eyes.  
“Alright.” Gerard said, not lifting his attention from Zero for even a moment, “Thank you for keeping him out of trouble, sort of. I know you probably had other, more pressing matters to attend to. You’ve been very helpful, Alicia.”  
“Any time.” Alicia nodded, shooting Zero a small smile.  
“Send Mikey my thanks as well.” Gerard added.  
“Of course.” she said.  
And suddenly, Zero’s only friend in the world was packing up her things and leaving. He thought about asking if she wanted to hang out again sometime - she’d done such a good job on his makeup - but he wasn’t sure when they’d have time. If they were leaving for the zones in a matter of days, Zero didn’t have any free time. He waved goodbye and made sure to tell her she’d made his second day on Earth a little better than the first.  
Zero felt a little melancholy as the door shut behind her. Gerard’s careful hands eased the pain a little.  
He still wasn’t satisfied with his inspection yet. He kept carding his fingers through Zero’s hair, inspecting his scalp for burns. Zero felt fuzzy all over. It was nice to be the center of attention. He liked being the center of Gerard’s attention.  
“I wasn’t crying, by the way.” Zero informed, “Alicia put makeup on me and it got all smudged in the shower. With the water rations, I didn’t have time to wash it all off…”  
“I’m sorry for freaking out.” Gerard said.  
“You didn’t freak out you just…” Zero trailed off, not sure how to be comforting, “I mean, I probably would’ve freaked out, too.”  
Zero thought Gerard would’ve stopped by now, but he was still carefully checking Zero over, inch by inch.  
“This morning when I woke you up...” Zero explained softly, “You thought I was Frank.”  
“I don’t think I-” Gerard started.  
“You called me ‘Frank.’” Zero interrupted, turning to face Gerard, “I’m not mad. I just… didn’t want you to get confused again, so I changed my hair.”  
“That’s… very smart.” Gerard said, “Thank you.”  
“My reasons were mostly selfish...” Zero said, “I’m not him. Every time someone tells me I look like him... I know I _look_ like him, but I’m someone else.”  
“Alright.” Gerard nodded, “I’m sorry.”  
“Also, it’s good because… Alicia found something.” Zero said, tilting his head to the side so Gerard could get a better look at his neck.  
“I have a scar from one of Frank’s tattoos…” Zee said, blinking up at the ceiling, “Alicia said it was a scorpion?”  
“ _Holy shit._ ” Gerard breathed, running his fingers over the scar tissue gently. And okay, Zee would be totally fine if Gerard wanted to touch him there for the rest of the afternoon.  
“How did I not notice this before? I’d love to get a sample...” Gerard said quietly, “If that’s alright with you, I mean?”  
“Those hurt.” Zero protested.  
“ _You’ve_ never had one.” Gerard reminded, “Besides it’ll only take a second. I fine tuned the laser just last week. Fastest bio samples in the city.”  
“Well, I also got the driving instructions all plotted out. But we’ll have to check the RebelNet and make sure the highways are still safe. The map might be outdated.” Zero said, turning to Face Gerard again in an attempt to jump subject matter.  
“Of course.” Gerard said, “Thank you. I would’ve forgotten.”  
They stared at one another for a moment. Zero was close enough he could reach out and touch Gerard. It hurt to think under different circumstances that would be alright.  
“Um… do you have any other scars like that one?” Gerard asked.  
Zero’s knee-jerk response was to make a pass. He wanted Gerard to check every inch of him for other scars. Zee wanted to feel those practiced, over-analyzing hands all over his body. And under different circumstances, that might be okay, too.  
“I’m not sure.” Zero shrugged, “Alicia was gonna help me check, but then she left.”  
“That’s alright.” Gerard said, “We’ll have time for that later, I’m sure. We should work on packing for the safe house. The city will provide us with food and water rations, but we need to make it look like we actually plan on collecting plant samples. I have most of the heavy equipment packed up and ready to load, but we’ll need clothes, field recorders, sun protectants…”  
“Can I bring a guitar?” Zee asked.  
“It’s contraband...” Gerard said, but then he seemed to reconsider, “But actually, I might have a case that could fit one of the smaller electrics… We could put a lock on it and pray the discharge team isn’t feeling curious.”  
Zero couldn’t help but smile. It was like he forgot that Gerard was a rebel, too. Gerard didn’t act like a rebel. Though, cloning his runaway rebel partner was a pretty rebel move, he supposed.  
  
Gerard prepared them a modest dinner of microwave-steamed soybeans and meat-replacer cakes. Zero ate every bite and even chugged the can of soda Gerard asked him to drink.  
After dinner they spent awhile in Frank’s music room, looking over the maps Zero had printed. It took him a long time to remember how to access the rebelnet. There was a widget on Frank’s desktop with a skull and crossbones for an icon that had to be the access point, but it took him awhile to remember the password. It was Gerard that guessed that password correctly.  
  
 _see you in the zones_  
  
Gerard looked grim after that. He spaced out on the stool next to Zero, idly watching him navigate through the rebelnet. Zee could tell Gerard was somewhere else, far away, but he didn’t know how to ask what the frown was about. He wondered if it was about Frank. Sitting next to a spitting image of his runaway rebel partner had to start taking a toll on him eventually. Nobody could keep that up with a straight face forever. Not when their partner had been gone for so long.  
“So…” Zero started, “If we find the safe house… will we ever come back here? Should we pack up all the contraband, too?”  
“We’ll have to come back.” Gerard answered easily, “Even in the best case scenario we’ll have to come back.”  
“Why?” Zero asked.  
“There’s no easy way to ditch the car…” Gerard explained, “They’ll come looking for it, and they’ll search every grain of sand within two days walking of it. They won’t be on foot like us. They’ve got satellites.”  
Zee nodded. Gerard was right. The pitfalls in that plan were too great.  
“It’s enough that we can get out there at the city’s expense.” Gerard said, “It’s expensive if we go through the rebels.”  
“I didn’t realize that was even an option.” Zero blinked.  
“Frank was pretty involved with the process of helping the rebels find new escape routes back in the day. The rebels had a system for getting citizens out into the desert safely.” Gerard explained.  
“Wait, why don’t we just ask them if they know where Frank is, then?” Zee asked.  
“I work for Better Living, remember?” Gerard said, “They follow my every move. Even if I could get to the rebels… I’d just end up blowing their cover.”  
“What about the missing persons chain on the RebelNet?” Zee asked excitedly, prompting the computer to run a search.  
“None of the rebels use their real names.” Gerard said, ‘I don’t know how we’d even-”  
Zero had already keyed down to the ‘G’ set and scrolled over a picture of Gerard. The picture had seen better days. It was black and white, and pixelated as though it had been resaved a few times too many.  
They both held their breath as the read the caption underneath.  
“ _ **i’ll wait forever - f**_ ” was all it said.  
  
“That’s a good sign?” Zero commented breathlessly.  
“It was posted two years ago.” Gerard pointed out, reaching over to press his finger against the timestamp on the screen.  
“That’s good though. That means two years ago he was still looking for you.” Zero said encouragingly, “Two years ago is a lot less than five.”  
“If you’ll excuse me a moment.” Gerard said vacantly, sliding off of the work stool beside Zero and ghosting out of the small room.  
Zero technically hadn’t done anything wrong. He hadn’t even been the one who ran away. That was all Frank. But that didn’t stop the sinking feeling he got. It didn’t stop the deep sigh he drew in, and then out. It didn’t stop the realization that Gerard was a little more off-limits than he’d originally thought.  
  
Gerard obviously needed some space. Zero checked the clock and told himself he’d give Gerard two hours, at least. They were sort of living on top of each other for now. The living unit was too small for them to actually give each other space. Zero wasn’t even allowed to leave yet, so he kept himself in Frank’s music room. There was still lots he had to do on Frank’s computer, anyways. He searched through more of the awful, dramatic poems, unsurprised when he didn’t find any more coordinates. With each file he scoured, he grew more and more certain that he’d found the right coords.  
Zee went back to looking through some of the music files. He clicked on a random song and got an error message. The files were all encrypted and he had no idea how to unencrypt them. Fucking shaky cloning transfer process. Under different circumstances, Zero could perhaps access them without any problems. He spent awhile trying to figure it out. It couldn’t be impossible. Perhaps the right queue would trigger his memory and he’d be able to listen to the music files freely.  
Eventually though, he was nothing but frustrated. He got up and wandered through the bedroom, into the living room, forgetting entirely that he’d meant to give Gerard space. Gerard was curled up on the couch, tissue in hand. He’d stopped crying awhile ago from the looks of it, but he still held a tissue in his hand, just in case the tears came back. His eyes were puffy and red-rimmed. He looked exhausted and _fed up._  
Gerard turned his face away as soon as he noticed Zero.  
“Sorry.” Zero mumbled, turning to head back for the computer room.  
“No, it’s okay.” Gerard rasped, “Could you come here, actually? I wanted to check you again.”  
Zero was about to ask what Gerard meant, but then he remembered what he’d done to his hair.  
“I’m sure my cells aren’t compromised, or whateverthefuck you said.” Zero grumbled, lowering himself onto the floor in front of the couch so Gerard had easy access to the back of his head.  
He closed his eyes as he felt Gerard’s hands in his hair again. Was he going to hell for enjoying it? Could he even go to hell if he was already there? He certainly felt like he might burst into flames at any moment.  
“I don’t want to take any chances...” Gerard said softly, “The last thing we need to be worrying about when we’re halfway up shit creek without a paddle in the desert is fucking chemical burns.”  
“Fair enough.” Zero laughed.  
“I really am sorry for freaking out, though.” Gerard said, “Do you think Alicia will ever forgive me?”  
“She’s probably wondering the same thing.” Zero said, “...She tried to tell me it was a bad idea. I just wasn’t listening.”  
“I don’t know why I was even surprised...” Gerard said, letting out a breath of a laugh.  
“Cause I’m just like Frank?” Zero finished.  
Gerard’s hands stopped working through his hair.  
“It’s okay.” Zero added, “What’s the use in denying it?”  
Gerard was quiet. Zero wondered if he’d been dumb enough to set Gerard off again. He couldn’t hear any sniffles, but he’d already made Gerard cry once, he could do it again just as easily. Unlike Zero, Gerard was fragile and delicate. His feelings were easily cut into.  
“There’s something I wanted to ask you about...” Zero said.  
“Shoot.” Gerard mumbled, running his fingers over the scorpion scar on Zero’s neck.  
His eyes fluttered closed as he reveled in the feel of Gerard’s fingertips. He tilted his head to the side to give Gerard a better look.  
“If you leave Batt City for good… aren’t you worried about what they’ll do with your cloning sequencer?” Zero asked, “They could use it to clone dictator after dictator, and Batt City would essentially have the same miserable leader for hundreds of years if no one stopped it. Or the possibilities with slave labor… I mean, if you give it to them, you’re giving them... _so much.”_  
“Do you think the people in the old world who manufactured guns felt guilty when those guns were eventually used for murder?” Gerard asked, “To some of them it was just a job.”  
Zero bit his lip in thought.  
“Or what about the scientists who developed nuclear bombs?” Gerard went on. He hadn’t taken his fingers off of Zero’s scar, “Not all of them were building a bomb. Some of them were just doing their jobs. Some of them were just looking for new ways to harness energy. No one’s blaming them for the total destruction of the planet.”  
“But some of them knew they were building a bomb capable of that sort of thing.” Zero pointed out, “And you know exactly what Better Living will do with your sequencer…”  
“It’s not my business what they do with it.” Gerard said, “And it’s not like I can stop them. They’d kill me if I didn’t hand it over with a smile.”  
Gerard tilted Zero’s head to the other side and ran his fingers over the skin on the other side of his neck. Zero wondered idly if he was checking for other tattoos, but he didn’t want to question the attention too much.  
“I’m sure you’re right.” Gerard sighed, “I’m sure some of those scientists knew what was going on. I’m sure they felt guilty, too.”  
Zero hummed in agreement.  
“I’m sure some of them didn’t feel guilty.” Gerard added, “Some people are just evil. And the ones who felt guilty probably became ghosts.”  
“You believe in ghosts?” Zero wondered aloud.  
“No.” Gerard answered, _“But I’ll bet anything that you do.”_


End file.
